The mission of Dover Shockwave Robotics is to inspire high school aged students to develop a deeper interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) through our high school team’s annual participation in the First Robotics Challenge (FRC).
What We Do
We strives to promote hands-on STEM education in the Dover School District, New Hampshire. Since 2013, we have supported a FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) team out of Dover High School. We provide these students with hands-on practical experience in multiple areas of engineering through our participation in the annual FIRST Robotics Challenge competition. At the end of the competition season, the robots we build are used in demonstrations at community outreach events by our students. We have been doing year-round projects with students since 2016.
We provide students with a safe environment where they can learn both hard and soft skills centered on STEM. Hard skills such as Requirements Analysis, Robot Design, Computer Aided Design (CAD)/ Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Advanced Manufacturing (3d Printing/Lathe/Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Router), and Embedded Programming using Java/C++. Soft skills such as working as a team, leadership, speaking, and representing the team at all events including community outreach throughout our region. We believe that our students have the fun of healthy competition, but learn the value of cooperative support of each other, as per the basic tenets of FIRST.
Apart from our official competitions, we also compete during the offseason at annual events:
- Mayhem at Merrimack
- NH Governor’s Cup
- Battle Of the Bay.
Our community outreach includes:
- Our local library STEM Day or special robot demonstration day
- Annual Makerfest at the Children Museum of New Hampshire
- Annual Dover Apple Harvest Day
- Thunder Over NH Airshow.
- Demonstrations in support of other non-profits such as Bring Back The Trade
Our program is designed to be inclusive and accessible to all interested students residing in Dover School District. To eliminate any barrier of interest, we have not charged any student activity fees since 2019.
We are a 501c3 non-profit organization and rely on sponsors for support. Our school provides a space for us to work in, as well as the support of the staff and students. We welcome any support from individuals or organizations who share our passion for STEM education.
FIRST is the brainchild of the famed inventor, Dean Kamen and Dr. Woodie Flower.